Hi, I too am down, I am retired and went last year to 2 separate financial planners with the sole purpose to get out of the market, Both said no, to stay in as I have all my stocks in a taxable account and I was sitting on huge capital gains, but I was insistent that I couldn’t go through a 2008 again, needless to say, I took their advice and now here I am again at the beginning, and I don’t believe the sell-off is over, no advice needed, I just need to tell someone, as I am alone, will figure this out. Good luck to all, will go back to lurking. Thanks so much for letting me vent.
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Sometimes you just need to vent. Best of luck to you.
You are not alone.
We are all here with you.
Best of luck.
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So I don’t want to jinx it, but today felt like old times (pre 6 months ago)… the general market struggled, but the typical Fool/Saul stocks (at least my holdings) were all green, and by pretty good percentages. It’s been awhile since one of those days, they’ve been missed.
I’m not implying the bottom is in, I know I can’t call that (nor can others). In fact, I’m sure things will again correct lower still, as that has been the MO for months now, and there’s been no unexpected good news regarding inflation, interest rates, or the Russia/Ukraine situation that might portend a turnaround for the high growth/IT sectors. But it was at least nice for a day to not have a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about my portfolios showing further declines than the massive ones they already have.
In looking at my stocks on a line graph of 52 week highs/lows, they ALL are at or very near their 52 week lows, or even all time lows. Just 6 months ago almost all were at all time highs. Lesson learned, if/when some of my holdings ever get back to more reasonable prices (just maybe the middle of that graph), or dare I say it, even overshoot to the high end again (I realize that will take some time), I will take some funds off the table, as I am retired, and this beating has been hard to stay optimistic about, when every stock you own seems to go down together. Prior to retiring this wouldn’t have affected me as much as I continued to buy at lower prices when these events happened as I had new investment money coming in, now I’m fully invested, so I can just watch my portfolio shrink without being able to add at better prices/valuations. It has amazed me how far they can all drop with little to no bad news specific to any of the companies! So the pounding our stocks have endured have been almost entirely macro/valuation/fear based.
Read a quote somewhere by Maya Angelou recently that says, “every storm runs out of rain” (the quote was not referencing the stock market, but it fits), well, I can’t wait till this one does, as I’ve been drowning.
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Hi Madhar,
I … went last year to 2 separate financial planners
My friend, there was your first big mistake!
with the sole purpose to get out of the market
Understandable. But you think you’re alone? Ha!
Both said no, to stay in as I have all my stocks in a taxable account and I was sitting on huge capital gains, but I was insistent that I couldn’t go through a 2008 again
Also understandable. But we would have told you the same thing, you know statistically, you are better … ah, forget it. Damn skippy, it hurts!
I don’t believe the sell-off is over
But it will be someday, and the stocks that fell the hardest and fastest shou … ah, hell. Forget that too.
no advice needed
Crap, now you tell me!
Never mind.
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The hardest part is selling stocks. Many get stuck in thinking they will always recover, or dream of the Microsoft type stock that gives a huge return over decades but that rarely happens. Most stocks over and under shoot valuations. At a minimum it is best to trim on the way up and add on the way down with the caveat that buying on the way down should only be done if the stock really has a solid financial footing and not a fad stock.
Even with a stock like Berkshire that rose to ~$350s and mungofitch mentioned it was getting up there in terms of fully valued. Now it is back to ~$300s.
Of course right now most things are just losing money unless commodities or housing. Stocks, bonds, cash, etc. losing money to inflation or just to markets or both. Painful for many.
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